I imagine a great many words have been expended elsewhere on this episode.
Connor is getting married on a boat. The wedding party is boarded first – the people who hold the “red invites.” Jesse Armstrong wrote this episode, and you can see him having a little fun around the edges of what is otherwise a searing piece of work.
Roman’s last words to his father. The episode is just loaded up with emotional mines. Kieron Culkin, Alan Ruck and Matthew Macfadyen in particular do some magnificent work here, and Zoe Winters has about a minute towards the end that steals the whole episode. The whole thing is stacked up with awards contenders, from writing and directing and all the way across.
The fascinating thing is that it absolutely reverses any expectation you may have had for this event in this show. You don’t see it coming and you don’t see it playing out like that. It’s a model of questioning your own narrative and building an incredible piece of work out of taking only the difficult choices.